odysseyextra Literature

Short Story: “The Yellow Wallpaper”

By Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

Clementina Hawarden, "Photographic Study" (1860s)

In the mood to read something creepy? If so, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the short story for you. A gothic tale and a significant early piece of feminist fiction, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a depressed woman forbidden from writing or leaving the house by her husband, a doctor. After several weeks of this, she begins to notice (or hallucinate?) women living in the walls around her.

Click to Read “The Yellow Wallpaper” (select the top option, which says “HTML”)

Have you read the story, but still feel like you don’t really “get” it? Try giving its page on SparkNotes a readthrough. They explain the themes of the story, the symbolism, and more. Sometimes, it can even be beneficial to read the SparkNotes before the actual story.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. 2nd version, 1892, Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm.

odysseyextra Literature

Poem: “Toxic Masculinity”

By Kennedy Engasser & Scorpio (2019)

Slam poetry is a form of poetry spoken aloud, often in competition with other poets. This performance is from grand finals at the 2019 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival.

Brave New Voices brings the world’s leading young poets together to slam, dream, and push the edge of artistic expression, creating a global movement.